This invention relates to processes for measuring glycerides in a fluid. More particularly, this invention regards an improved method for converting glycerides to glycerol when such conversion is required by the process used for measuring glycerides in the fluid.
It is recognized that there is a need for an inexpensive and an efficient process of measuring glycerides in fluids. Such a process is particularly desired for measuring glycerides in fluids such as human serum or plasma where their presence may indicate pathological conditions such as atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, fat induced or carbohydrate induced triglyceridemia, diabetic mellitus, fatty infiltration of the liver and certain glycogen storage diseases.
It was known to measure glycerides in fluids by first converting the glycerides to glycerol and then further reacting the glycerol in a series of enzymatic reactions to form a product having color characteristics measurable with a spectrophotometer or a colorimeter. These measurements were then converted to concentrations of glycerides with an appropriate graph, table, etc.
An example of such an enzymatic conversion procedure is set forth in the following reaction sequence in which the final product is pyruvate. EQU Glycerol + ATP .sup.GK GP + ADP EQU adp + pep .sup.pk atp + pyruvate